And edwin p



2 Sheets--Sheet 1.

J. A. DSC10013 a E. P. MONROE. Stuffing BOX.

Patented Nov. 9,1880.

(No Model.)

Fw z

Lllne taf Trax/ef,

L d' A (No Model.) 2 Sheets--Sheet 2. J, A. OSGOOD & B.. P. MONROE.

Stuffing Box.

Patented Nov. 9

ooo.. j /www//f Q om W t n .e L fn Mft um sans' UNrrsn Sterns Fernweh Ottieni..

JOSIAH A. OSGOOD, OF GRANTVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND EDYIN P. MONROE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

STUFFING-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part-.lof Letters Patent No. 234,325, dated November 9, 1880. Application filed June 7, 1880. (No model.)

T 0 all whomtt may concern Be it known that we, JosIAH A. OsGooD, of Grantville, Massachusetts, and EDWIN P. MONROE, of New York, N. Y., have invented certain Improvements in Stuffing-BoXes, of which the following; is aspecification.

This invention relates to devices for packing and supporting the stems or rods of engines, pumps, air-brakes, and other machinery in which a steam, air, or liquid tight joint is to be maintained about such rod to prevent the passage of the steam, air, or liquid from the cylinder, steam-chest, or other inclosure which the rod enters.

In steam and other engines, pumps, Ste., it has been found that the rods or stems, more particularly the valve-stems of locomotive-en` gines, to which our invention will be found especially adapted, become worn or otherwise altered from their true shape, owing to their passage over and contact with supports, guides, or other points of bearing. Thisl alteration of shape may be enhanced by the lateral or torsional thrusts and strains of the rod, arising from various causes, such as the weight of the rod, the tendency to departure from a true line of travel, owing to the action of the rocker-arm which drives the valve, the unequal wear upon the parts, the rising and falling or jumping of the valve and rod in passing frogs, switches, and crossings on the railway-track, and the lift-ing to permit the escape of condensed water from the valvechest, &c. rThe result of this is, that when the portion ofthe rod which has lost its true sh ape enters or passes through the packing opportunity is ott'ered for the passage, of steam between the rod and the packing, which in practice has been found to be a serious evil.

In our devices the packing is located beyond the travel of the worn or distorted portion of the rod-that is to say, at a distance from the nearest support or bearing, which causes this distortion or wear, greater than the travel of the rod, as shown.

The drawings show our invention as applied, in Figure l, to a locomotive-engine having a xed stuffing-box, and as applied, in Fig. 2, to

a similar engine from which the stufling-box has been removed.

A represents the end wall or head of the steam-chest, through which passes the valvestein B. D is a common stuffing-box. E is a box sleeve or tube. preferably of iron, surrounding and supporting' the valve-stein. The position and manner of attaching or applying this sleeve or tube E may vary according as the stuffing-box D is made fixed, Fig. l, or detachable, Fig.' 2. Or E may be so made eX- ternally as to serve for a casing for the rod when the old stutngbox is removed. This sleeve or tube E may extend through the steam-chest wall, and as far beyond as may be without interfering with the travel or action of the valve. Or, as shown in Fig. 3, the portion serving as a bearing or support may be dispensed with, and the tube then (marked F) may be attached to the wall of the steam-chest, in which a support, G, is provided for the rod. Again, the sleeve or tube E may be extended outside the steam-chest farther than is necessary for the support of the rod, in which case the interior diameter of such extended portion should be made greater than the interior diameter of that portion which serves to sup- Y port the rod. In Fig. l this extension is made to abut against the packing-receptacle and packing G at such a distance from the stemsupport that no part of the rod which passes the support shall enter or pass through the packing'. In Fig.2 it is still farther extended, thus serving to keep the packing or packing receptacle in place., .and also an inclosure for it. The bearing in sleeve E for the rod ter minates at the point a. Beyond that point outwardly the rod has no contact with the sleeve, and the distance between the point a and the packing should at least equal the length of stroke of the rod. In Fig. 2 a. shallow cap or cover, H, which incloses it is deeper, and is :represented as bolted to the stuffing'- boX D.

Fig. 3 represents a different arrangement, in which there is interposed between the packing and the support a shoulder tube or collar, F, of a length sufficient to hold the packing device at such a distance from the support that the portion of the rod which passes the support G shall not enter or pass through the packing. The support G is preferably of iron, and removable from the steam-chest.

Our present improvements do not relate to the construction ot' the packing, but are equally applicable to engines, whether packed with metallic or soft packin gs. It will be obvious that if soft packing, held in place by the usual fixed bushing around the rod, were used, the portion of the rod liable to be worn or distorted in consequence ot' its passing over the bushing would pass into or through the packing, and thus the evil which it is the object of ,our invention to prevent would not be avoided.

Therefore, when sot't packing is used a movable or sliding packing or packing-receptacle support, described in theapliilicationot' Josiah A. Osgood and Edwin P. Monroe for Letters Patent, tiled herewith, should be employed. It will be seen, also, that the relative location of the support andthe packing may be changed and the packing placed next the steam-chest, while the bearing or support may be turned farther away in the tube, the cap, or cover, or even entirely disconnected from the steamchest or packing-inclosure; but in any construction it is essential that the packing and the nearest support or bearing traversed by the rod be separated by a distance such that no portion of the rod which is liable to be worn or distorted in consequence ot' passing the support or bearing shall pass through the packing, and highly desirable that no such portion of the rod shall even enter the packing or any part thereof.

Te claim- 1. A packing` 'and supporting` devicel for valve-stems and piston-rods, having the packing at such a distance from the nearest support or bearing traversed by the rod or stem that no portion otl the latter exposed to wear or distortion from passing the support will enter or pass through the packing.

2. A case, box, tube, or other receptacle surrounding a piston-rod or valve-stem, and containing a packing and a support or bearing for the rod or stein at such a distance from the packing that no portion ot' the rod or stem exposed to wear or distortion from passing the support or bearing will enter or pass through the packing.

3. In combination with a cylinder or steamchest having in its end wall a support or bearing for a piston-rod or valve-stem, a case, box, tube, or other receptacle inclosing a packing for the rod or stem at such a distance from the support or bearing that no portion of the rod or stern exposed to wear or distortion in consequence of passing the support or bearing shall enter or pass through the packing, substa-ntially as described.

4. In combination with a cylinder or steamchest, a case, box, tube, or other receptacle containing a support for the rod or stem, and having an extension of greater interior diameter than the support, abutting at the end farthest from the support against the packing or packing-receptacle, and holding the same at a distance from the support such that no portion of' the rod liable to be worn or distorted in consequence of passing the support shall enter or pass through the packing', substantially as described.

5. The combinatiomwith a support or bearing for a piston-rod or valve-stein and a packing device, ot' an intermediary tube, collar, or shoulder of a length suiicient to keep the packing device at such a distance from the support or bearing that no portion ot' the rod liable to wear or distortion in consequence of passing over the support or bearing will enter or pass through the packing.

JOSIAH A. OSGOOD. EDWIN l). MONROE.

iitnesses ALEX. P. BROWNE, HULBERT PECK. 

